Inspired by the work of Daniel Pink, A Whole New Student looks to explore the motivations of the modern student as well as ways for educators to prepare for a rapidly changing economy.

Friday, April 15, 2011

PE5_Twitter

Now that we have set up our official Twitter account for my Behavioral Science class it is time to make our first tweet! We will keep it simple and straightforward to start with then we will go over some of the different types of messages you can send on Twitter. Here is our inaugural message:

Next we will post a Retweet or RT of one of the Twitter users we will follow. This function can be used as a recommendation or an easy way to share a link with your followers. For our first RT we have chosen a Tweet posted by Daniel Pink, the inspiration for this blog. The excellent video on Motivation created by theRSA.org and narrated by Mr. Pink has been nominated for an award and through Twitter @DanielPink has shared a link to a site where readers can vote. We will do our part to support and Retweet Daniel's message by simply clicking on the Retweet button:

Finally we will recommend one of the Twitter users we follow in order to share more information with our followers. We will use the general Full Sail Twitter (@FullSailUpdate) which frequently shares information regarding special events at Full Sail.

Twitter can offer a number of benefits and conveniences to the world of Education. While Web 2.0 tools are constantly growing and changing it is the simplicity at the core of Twitter that leads to it's ease of use and popularity. All to often we might champion a new and powerful tool that proves to complicated for those less literate in technology. I am looking forward to implementing this tool in my classroom and sharing this tool with my fellow educators. While the particular uses of Twitter are virtually endless, as it has the ability to evolve as the community sees fit, some of the benefits I am looking to foster include:

Classroom Community: As students view similar responses to material on Twitter they will feel a connection to those with similar concerns and interested

Collaboration: Students can work together to share links to pertinent information

Research: With a number of reputable journals and news sources on Twitter, users can easily search to gauge a more accurate worldview on a topic. This can include everything from Doctoral level research to simple personal opinion.

Facilitation Of Discussion: The ease of response promotes quick discussion

Facilitation Of Personal Learning Networks: With an open API, Twitter can be easily integrated into a student's Personal Learning Network (PLN)

Some examples found in Grosseck (2008).

References:

Grosseck, G. & Holotescu, C. (2008) Can we use Twitter for educational activities? The 4th International Scientific Conference eLSE "eLearning and Software for Education", Bucharest, April 17-18, 2009, http://adl.unap.ro/else